Book Review: "Do What Matters Most: Lead with a Vision, Manage with a Plan, Prioritize Your Time" by Rob Shallenberger and Steve Shallenberger

Introduction

In the contemporary environment, where disruption is all around and the claim on people’s time is unbounded, learning how to concentrate on those things that matter is a huge boost. "Do What Matters Most: Another book that is highly recommended when it comes to leading change and following strategies to create it is the one titled “Lead with a Vision, Manage with a Plan, Prioritize Your Time” by Rob Shallenberger and Steve Shallenberger. The authors of the book are specialists in leadership development and time management, and this work describes a model aimed at synchronizing personal and organizational activities with one’s most important goals and objectives. It is a practical encyclopedia of sorts, which seeks to change the way people live in their everyday lives.

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Narrative Style and Structure

The style of the “Do What Matters Most” is narrative, non-complex, to the point, and easy to follow. Jargon is not used throughout the paper by the authors, rather simple and clear language is employed which can be readily implemented. In addition to their advice, they neither shy away from using examples, anecdotes as well as case studies to elaborate on, or support the material that they are presenting. Writing style is optimistic and authoritative, which seems to stem from the urge of the authors to help people turn their lives in the right direction and pay attention to the matters that matter most.

The book is structured into three main sections, each focusing on one of the core principles: It includes the values such as leading with a vision which is a strategic vision, managing with a plan in which a business devises then implements a clear, well-thought-out, and realistic plan and prioritizing the time. It is subdivided into chapters that extend deeper into other aspects of the principle, featuring elaborated instructions and advice. This structure also enables the readers follow the line of thought as well as execute the strategies detailed in the paper sequentially.

Plot Summary

Unlike many books that tell stories and then draw the lessons from the stories they tell, “Do What Matters Most” does not act as a story arc of any sort, but the message presented in the book is effectively presented as a line of reasoning that leads the reader from one concept to the next for reshaping how one approaches the management of time and organizational leadership. The core principles outlined in the book are:The core principles outlined in the book are:

Lead with a Vision: This section focuses on Vision or the direction you have set for your life and your projects. From the authors’ perspective, vision gives direction and energy and reminds people of what is important in the long-run. Real-life exercises are used to guide the readers in the process of identifying vision and ensuring that one is in synch with this vision.

Manage with a Plan: Here, the authors present the readers with the use of pre-week planning which is one of the most effective time and task management techniques. They describe how you can generate a plan and its implementation as a result of which you will be continually moving towards the achievement of your vision. The given strategy focuses on the prevention of negative outcomes as a result of a particular action.

Prioritize Your Time: This section deals on priority and the methods to use to have the best way of handling the various activities that are present. Working moms are the target audience of the authors who offer practical tips like the Big 3, which entails picking three priorities per week, and time blocking.

Every principle is explained with the help of examples and cases that will help the reader understand how the strategies discussed can be used in practice. Furthermore, the authors offer worksheets and exercises to apply the introduced notions in everyday practice.

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Themes and Symbolism

The principle underlying “Do What Matters Most” is therefore focused on purposeful planning of one’s activities by closely relating them to the most worthy pursuits. Speaking of what the authors claim, they proposed that by concentrating on what really counts one can get more out of his or her personal as well as business life. The work is dominated by this theme and each section of the book offers the readers the strategies that would enable them achieve this attunement.

School improvement is another important sphere and one of the most important themes where problems and perspectives are actively discussed is the problem of proactive planning. The authors also stress that if a person chooses to be the master of time and of tasks in particular through weekly planning and priority setting, then stress and reactivity are minimized and productivity improved. This theme proves to be timely in a world that is increasingly becoming filled with a plethora of responsibilities, and a dwindling amount of time to accomplish the said responsibilities.

It has been noted that the symbolism used in the book is not very obvious and it is only at the second glance that one becomes aware of it. The stereotypic representation of the ‘Big 3’ is a part of the model which aims to convey the basic notion of concentrating on three paramount activities that hold significance and refraining from everything which is seen as an interference. The authors implicitly use a concept of a ship’s captain who has to know where to steer and thus, have a vision and a strategy. They play a role of supporting the major topics of the book and of making the receiving of the information more tractable for the audience’s memory.

Character Analysis

As for the novel “Do What Matters Most”, it is chiefly non-fiction, and there are no realistic characters in their meaning; nevertheless, the authors under consideration incorporate real people as examples for the reader. Such people are representatives of business and entrepreneurship and ordinary people who have practiced the concepts stated in the book.

An excellent real-life example is the case of a corporate executive who altered the way he scheduled his time and led people, owing to the pre-week planning technique. Such a testimonial is the story of the author’s transition from working in a stressful state, to a structured and well-coordinated working process at his workplace.

The other interesting example is a case of a small business owner who applyed the Big 3 bulleted list to filter out the most essential issues in his field of activity. In the case of the key priorities, by focusing on the three most important aspects that the man has at work each week, he managed to boost growth and achieve a better work-life balance.

In this way, through these and other examples, the authors make their principles work fleshed out to demonstrate how they may be effectively used in different settings and what outcomes can be attained.

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Pacing and Tension

The presented pace of “Do What Matters Most” can be described as fast and intense. This way, the authors maintain the format of the chapters coherent and brief, which makes the content of the book easily understandable. The method of supporting the ideas with reference to real life and telling personal life experiences make the text more interesting and encourages readers to practice the described tactics.

Since the advice offered in the book is difficult, the tension stems from the strain offered in the book. Audience is going to feel discomfort, which is a result of doubts in their current practices and ways of handling time, and that desire to continue searching and reading will persist. The authors manage to establish this tension by describing what might happen if effectiveness and efficiency are not achieved, namely stress, professional burnout, and unachievement.

The problem lies in the construction of the book: each chapter complements the previous one, thereby broadening the reader’s perspective on the principles and their usage. This progression also guarantees that the book will not become stale in the middle, while each new part of the book offers a new facet of understanding and a fresh application of the author’s thought process.

A possible way to looking at this critique is that some readers may feel that the matters being recommended are mechanistic. The focus on pre-week planning and very precise prioritization will be quite uninteresting for some people, especially for those who are more flexible in their work and prefer to resolve various issues without making strict plans. However, the authors relieve this concern stating that the principles are in fact flexible and that one can actually choose customs in accordance to his or her tastes and conditions.

The last criticism that could be pointed out is that the presented book probably does not have enough information devoted to non-work time management, to personal life or to creative activities. Despite this, the reader may have to transform some of the principles highlighted in the book to fit the environment of the students they are tutoring.

Still, “Do What Matters Most” is a useful and provoking concept for effective time management and leadership improvement. Thus, what the authors do to their readers is offer a set of guidelines based on the principles of vision, planning, and prioritizing for improving the readers’ lives in both personal and professional contexts.

Conclusion

"Do What Matters Most: ‘Lead with a Vision, Manage with a Plan, Prioritize Your Time’ by Rob Shallenberger and Steve Shallenberger is one of the best books everyone must read no matter being a boss or a worker. The authors combine simple, straightforward directions with vivid case retro stories to offer readers a systematic view on how to change the way they look at time management and leadership.

The logical division based on the focus on one of the key principles for each of the sections of the book also makes the use of all the described tools comprehensible and rather simple. As a result of authors’ expert approach with the help of empirical research and narrative style and tone, the book can be called practical at the same time.

As with most self-help books, some readers may probably consider some of the advice that Neumann is proposing as rigid and difficult to apply that change on a daily basis; however, the focus that Neumann pays to vision, planning and priorities gives the reader a more realistic and rational approach towards change. “Do What Matters Most” makes the audience reconsider their own attitudes toward the organization of work and the improvements which might be useful in their daily practice in order to achieve more significant results and become happier.

In general, “Do What Matters Most” is a highly effective book which contains numerous perspectives and guidelines that can be useful for people desiring efficient work and goal attainment. No matter whether you are an already successful businessman or woman, an employee with many things to do, or a person wishing to know what is really important of the time that he or she has, this book includes everything, the tools and spurs you need.

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